


Violets, Magnolias and Witches

by JemsFormUnderPressure



Series: The Children Aren't Just the Future - They Save It [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Dialogue Heavy, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Language of Flowers, Lesbian Character, Not Beta Read, Other witch character is referenced, Panic Attacks, Protective Dean Winchester, Talk of Hospitals, Witch Case, but I don't think it counts as fluff either?, but that's not important, despite all that it's not really angst, for timeline reasons, season 7, some language because Dean, talk of a car crash, technically canon compliant lmao
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-11
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-18 01:42:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29975463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JemsFormUnderPressure/pseuds/JemsFormUnderPressure
Summary: Sam gets a call from another hunter about a witch in Tennessee. While they suspect there's no one to kill, they don't expect to run into a family they helped with a ghost a few years back. And they don't expect a witch who's prepared for hunters and ready to meet her fate. It's Dean who makes a different call.
Relationships: Dean Winchester & Sam Winchester, Tyler Thompson (Supernatural)/Original Female Character(s)
Series: The Children Aren't Just the Future - They Save It [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2025625
Kudos: 1





	Violets, Magnolias and Witches

**Author's Note:**

> The implied/referenced child abuse is about John Winchester and Dean and it's literally one a small sentence. The implied/referenced homophobia is just all throughout the fic, but there's not any explicit homophobia shown. The panic attack is triggered by the aforementioned implied/referenced homophobia.

“Hey Dean?” Sam looked up from his computer to Dean. “I think I found a possible witch case.” At that, Dean lit up and started to get up. “ _ But _ -” Sam pointedly continued and Dean deflated. “There haven’t been any killings or injuries to anyone. There are weird things happening in the town and magic is clearly involved, but it doesn’t match up with demon or angel activity or the presence of pretty much anything else. Dean, I don’t think there’s anything to hunt.”

Dean sighed. “Sam, if there’s nothing to kill why’d you even bring it up? Killing’s kind of our thing.”

“Because another hunter tipped me off and asked if we were taking the case. Nothing violent is happening but it’s drawing attention from hunters - and not nice ones.” Sam admitted.

“None of us are nice, Sam. Except maybe you.”

Sam pursed his lips. “Dean, if we don’t take this case other hunters are going to kill an innocent person - maybe more than one! Besides, I already told the hunter that we’d check it out.”

Dean rolled his eyes and stood, pointedly cracking his back in the process. “Fine. Where’re we off to this time?”

“Leiper’s Fork, Tennessee.”

~**~

“Alright, so we’re driving to Tennessee for a witch. Why? I mean, you said yourself that there haven’t been any killings. What will we even look for? Do we have any possible suspects?” Dean tested as he pressed a little harder on the gas.

Sam cleared his phone before looking back at his information. “Uh… Flowers.”

“Excuse me?”

“Well. Uh, it turns out that our biggest sign is the overnight growth of multiple flowers. I mean, roses, lilacs, gardenias, morning glory, and violets all popped up overnight.”

“So what, a witch just decided to cover the town in fucking flowers?”

“Ah, the flowers are found in a field away from most of the residential and business areas and they didn’t all bloom on the same day. Morning Glory was the first flower to bloom and most people didn’t even pay attention to it, but then a week later the flower was gone and instead lilacs were just everywhere. Then people noticed. The sudden appearance and disappearance of flowers has been going on for a little over two months and no one can figure out why or how. I mean, flowers are picky - you can’t just plant them anywhere and expect them to thrive, but all of these flowers have been growing just fine all in the same area. There have only been two anomalies so far with the flowers. See, the flowers seem to have a shelf life of about a week - two at most - except for the blue rose that grew for three weeks before disappearing and a flower called Lily the Valley. That last one might not even be a part of this. It showed up right before the blue rose and hasn’t disappeared since then so it might just be growing there naturally.” Dean let out a heavy sigh and shook his head.

“Is this all we’re going off of? A bunch of stupid flowers?”

“No actually. A few weeks into all of this, people started going to the hospital.”

“What? I thought you said there wasn’t any violence?”

“There isn't - at least as far as I can tell. None of the people taken to the hospital are injured or dead. In fact, the most severe case was someone who had an asthma attack before they blacked out and they’ve come out saying that they only blacked out because they forgot their inhaler. In fact, the doctors have said that everyone who has been brought in from the flower field has more in common with people sleeping than people who were knocked out due to blunt force trauma or lack of air.  _ And _ the whole ‘people falling unconscious’ thing only started after people started picking them. So whoever our witch is clearly doesn’t want anyone to touch the flowers but isn’t prone to violence. Almost seems like they’re avoiding it.” Sam flipped through his notes for a few seconds before tossing them to the side with a small sigh. “Uh, I’ll show you pictures of the flowers later. But beside that, nothing too out of the ordinary has been reported.”

“Right, well I still think this is stupid.” Sam rolled his eyes as Dean turned up the radio.

They drove for the rest of the day, only stopping around ten when they found a motel. Dean dropped his bag on the floor next to one of the beds, which he then promptly face planted on. Sam huffed out a laugh and Dean flipped him off without raising his head. A few seconds later Dean sat up and started to take his shoes off.

“So what do these flowers look like? What are we looking for?”

~**~

Dean closed the door of the impala and knocked twice on the top of the car as he looked over at Sam. “So what? We wander town until  _ maybe  _ we see a house or garden or person with those stupid flowers?” Sam half-shrugged. Dean rolled his eyes and let a frown settle on his face. “Great.”

It was easier than Dean had expected. Far easier, seeing as less than half an hour later an unusual yard had caught his attention. Dean hit Sam and nodded to a house across the street. “Dude.” The house in question had a sizable garden spreading out from the walkway to the house - a garden that consisted primarily of the flowers they were looking for. And in the midst of the flowers, settled right between the violets and magnolias, was a girl who seemed to be around sixteen and had dark wavy hair that was carefully pulled back into a ponytail. Sam paused for a second before they both quickly crossed the street. Soon, they were standing in front of the yard.

“Sorry to interrupt, but we just noticed your flowers - they’re beautiful.” Sam called with a small smile. “Did you grow them all by yourself?” He asked while motioning to ask if they could get closer. The girl nodded and the two of them walked over.

“No, my g- significant other got them for me actually! They’re the sweetest - before we started dating, I told them how much I loved flowers and that I learned the meanings of flowers when I was a kid. They actually confessed to me with these flowers so they mean a lot to me. But I do my best to take care of them.” The girl said with a soft smile.

“Your hard work shows. What are you doing right now?” Sam lightly asked.

“Ah… Not much actually. Gardening is a stress reliever too, I suppose, since it keeps my mind and hands busy.” She admitted, her smile quickly dropping off her face.

“Not much in this town to be stressed about,” Dean started. “Boys and school, huh?”

Her gaze flickered between Dean and the roses. “Boys… sort of. One boy. He-... one of my friends ended up in the hospital recently. He’s not in great condition.” After a few beats of silence she cleared her throat and forced on a smile once again. “So yeah, gardening is a stress reliever. But regardless of… anything, I’ll always love this garden. I’m Clarissa, by the way.”

Sam nodded and cleared his throat. “I’m Sam, this is Dean. So, what was the last flower they gave to you - your significant other?”

Clarissa lit up again and turned to her left. “The violets. Before that it was the gardenias.”

“What do they mean?” Dean finally spoke up, eying the gardenia’s with a small frown. Clarissa’s smile softened and she reached out to one of the gardenias, cupping it in her hand with a twinkle in her eyes.

“Secret love.”

“And what about the violets?”

Clarissa stilled for a couple seconds before looking back at Dean with a blank stare. “...You don’t know much about history, do you?” She rolled her eyes as Sam bit back a laugh, and before Dean could defend himself she continued. “What they mean doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things. The point is that sh- that Tyler loves me and that I have proof of that staring at me every day is what I care about. The meanings of each flower… it’s just how we talk to each other when we can’t say what we need to.”

“So the meanings are random? Coincidence?” Sam butted back into the conversation and Clarissa laughed.

“Of course not! Every flower is chosen with care and each meaning is purposeful.” Clarissa’s gaze drifted back to the violets in front of her and Dean rolled his eyes. Sam elbowed him in the side.

“So ‘secret love’?” Sam questioned as he stared at the gardenias.

“Doesn’t showing off the flower kinda defeat the purpose? And how is it secret if you already know they love you?” Dean interrupted.

“...We know we love each other. But I guess it’s almost an inside joke and a reassurance? We can’t tell most people that we’re together. Everyone loves Tyler - they’re like the most popular kid in school and everyone thinks they’re perfect. But us two together would cause a riot.  _ Especially  _ in a town like this. My parents don’t even know.” Sam’s tense smile grew sad and he nodded.

“I get it. We’re sorry to bother you, we’ll get going. Oh! But do you know where we can talk to Tyler or their parents? I want to ask them where they got those flowers - they really are beautiful.” Clarissa snapped her gaze back up to them and just stared at Sam for a few seconds before she glanced away and started to chew on her lip. “You don’t have to if it makes you uncomfortable.”

“No. Um… their mom’s name is Susan Thompson and she lives at the end of the block. I’m sure if you ask around, you’ll easily be able to find who you’re looking for.”

“Thank you. Have a good day.” Sam said and quickly pulled Dean away.

“She seem on edge to you?” Sam raised an eyebrow at Dean. “I mean, when she wasn’t acting like an idiot in love. Like at the end, talking about the-uh violets.” Dean added.

“Yeah, just a bit. Tyler probably has something to do with it, but I don’t think that’s the only reason Clarissa was acting like that.” Sam conceded.

Dean scoffed. “They’re just plants, Sam.” At that, Sam stopped and just stared at Dean with a disbelieving expression.

“They’re  _ violets _ , Dean. You really don’t know the history do you? Whatever, I’m not explaining it to you, you’ll figure it out later.”

“Sammy-”

“Let's find Tyler’s mom.”

It turned out that finding Tyler’s mom, Susan, was incredibly easy. They had already had an idea of where she lived, but one look in a phone book was all they needed to know exactly where to find her. So later that same day, Sam and Dean drove to the house in question and knocked on the door.

The door opened to show a thirty-some woman with a tired smile.

“Susan Thompson?”

“Yes?” She then looked between them and her eyes widened. “Oh my God, Sam and Dean Winchester?” Dean snapped his gaze over to Sam with wide eyes and a frown. “Sorry, you probably don’t remember me. It’s been years. I didn’t expect to ever see you again - I sort of counted on it - but please, come in.” She opened the door wider and let the two of them in. There was a teen girl sitting at the table silently doing her homework. “What brings you here? It’s not another ghost is it?” Susan asked as she closed the door. And both the mom and her daughter stiffened. “Why  _ are  _ you here?” She repeated.

“Uh…” Same glanced over to Dean and grimaced slightly. “It’s nothing serious. Another hunter called me with a case here - they think it’s a witch - but I looked at all the evidence and, ah, even if there is something - some _ one _ \- they aren’t exactly causing trouble so we probably won’t have to do anything.”

“Oh.” Susan said, her voice flat. A couple beats of silence passed between them before the girl set down her pencil and turned to Sam and Dean.

“My name’s Tyler. You’re looking for me.” She announced.

Dean frowned. “Tyler? ...Wait, that Tyler? The one that Clarissa girl got the flowers from? I thought you’d be a dude.” Tyler rolled her eyes as Dean continued to stare at her like she’d grown another head.

“We’re gay, idiot.” She drawled out and Sam forced back a grin.

“Wait, so you’re the witch we’re looking for?” Dean asked her and frowned harder. “You’re the girl who was nearly drowned by a ghost and yet you’re messing with magic? Usually that shit pushes people  _ away _ from magic. You’re supposed to be normal.”

“Dean.”

“So you do remember us.” Tyler hummed.

Dean then turned to Susan. “And you know? You’re ok with this? How…”

“I trust Tyler to be responsible. Besides, magic was keeping Maggie at bay - magic was protecting us - so why should I have a bad opinion of it? Tyler hasn’t hurt anyone.” Susan argued back, inching ever closer to Tyler. Tyler turned slightly pink.

“Tyler?” Sam spoke.

“I… I’m not going after people. I don’t want to hurt anyone, I just want to make life a little safer… a little easier.” She glanced around the room for a few seconds before she stopped at Sam’s shoulder.

“Should we know anything else?”

“The people who fell asleep. That’s all it was - they’ll wake up, some of them already have! I was just trying to protect my flowers. They were all for Clarissa but people were starting to steal them and I didn’t want-” Tyler swallowed and took a deep breath. “Ryan. Ryan Bakers.”

“What about him? Who is he?” Dean asked, calmer than before.

“He’s in the hospital. He got in a car accident a few days ago.” Susan explained with a slightly shaky voice. “Tyler, why is he important?”

“He found out about Clarissa and I.”

“Did you hurt him?” Sam asked and Tyler nodded. “Why - because he found out?”

“...No. I don’t… I don’t think it’s my place to say what he did, but he was mean. He got physical.”

“With who?”

Tyler bit out a laugh. “Does it matter?! He found out that Clarissa and I were together and he got violent. I didn’t kill him! But if that’s seriously enough for hunters to want to kill me, then fine. Do it. Because I don’t feel bad for doing it and I won’t apologize.”

Dean unintentionally let a laugh slip out and the three others stared at him. “I really can’t blame you for that - he sounds like a dick.” Susan and Sam both frowned and Tyler gave him a hesitant smile.

“Dean-” Susan started.

“Look,” Dean interrupted. “How I see all this is that your daughter was using some fairly harmless witchcraft to woo a pretty girl.” He said with a half-sarcastic smile. “And then some asshole decided he had a problem with who she was dating and she managed to protect herself without getting in trouble. And even though she used magic, she still didn’t kill him which is a hell of a lot better than what we usually have to deal with. And we’re not gonna kill her either.” Susan fell quiet at that and Tyler started to chew her lip. Sam, meanwhile, was merely staring at Dean the whole time.

“...A hunter still sent you after me. They know I’m here.” Tyler finally said. “And if you let me go I’m not gonna stop practicing - I don’t have a good reason.”

Dean rolled his eyes but sent her a bright, if not slightly worried, smile. “What? Threat of death isn’t good enough for you?”

Tyler hesitated. “I like it too much, even if I did have a good reason to stop, I don’t think I would. My witchcraft has… has made my life better and I haven’t hurt- I haven’t  _ killed _ anyone. Or irreversibly hurt them. I’m not gonna stop and another hunter that we can’t reason with will come along.” Sam frowned.

“Why don’t you just stop with the flowers? Or just tone it down - be more subtle.”

“Dude, we’re supposed to  _ stop  _ her, not  _ help _ her.” Dean snapped back.

“She said herself that she wasn’t going to stop practicing witchcraft, and  _ you _ said we weren’t gonna kill her! You want to just leave her for some other hunter to kill?! The best thing to do is make sure she can fly under the radar!” Sam argued back.

“Oh come on! We barely even tried-”

“Sam? Dean?” The brother both whipped their heads to Tyler, who was nervously wringing her hands together. “Can I ask you for help?”

“Depends. What do you need help with?” Sam asked, his voice immediately reverting back to ‘calming spooked animal’ mode.

“Two things. I’m- well I’m not sure  _ how _ to be more subtle, but more importantly… Ryan. You know he’s in a coma?” She double checked. The two boys nodded. “He wasn’t always. He actually woke up the day after the accident. They hospital has kept it pretty hush hush because they think it’ll reflect badly on them - a boy getting into a crash with a concussion and a few broken bones and pretty out of, stabilizing quickly and waking up less than 24 hours later… and suddenly he falls into a deep coma? With no explanation, no reason as to why? So they’re letting people think he came in in a worse condition than he really did. I’m not even sure his family knows.” She was already shaking just thinking about it and she tucked her hands behind her back.

“So how do you know about that? If the hospital’s keeping under wraps?” Dean asked, getting suspicious.

“I was there when it happened.” Tyler admitted and averted her gaze even though Dean relaxed at her words. “I visited him in the hospital and he hadn’t woken up yet. And I knew that, but a part of me couldn’t… I was so scared that he’d just wake up and spill everything to everyone and I needed closure… My mom drove me there, but I went in alone, convinced… I hypnotized the nurses to let me visit him even though they were only letting family in. I wasn’t there for more than half an hour but- but he woke up when a nurse came in to check his vitals. The nurse left to grab someone else ‘cause he wasn’t even the regular nurse and as soon as he was out of the room, Ryan started yelling and threatening and I got scared. You have to understand, even if he doesn’t know about the witchcraft, he knows enough to destroy Clarissa’s life. Mine too, but my mom supports me and we’re no strangers to moving. I-I panicked Dean.”

Dean sent her an impatient glare. “Where is this going? Speed it up, Ty. Tyler.”

“The doctor came into the room as Ryan fell back, in a coma. No one knows, not even-” She glanced at her mom and took a step away. “-but I did it. He was threatening me, I got scared, and I forced him into a coma!” She rushed out and an airy, slightly manic laugh slipped past her lips along with a quite ‘oh Gods’. “W-witchcraft can do a lot.” She curled in on herself seemingly instinctively.

Dean watched her for a couple more seconds before he forced his body to relax and slowly started to approach her. “Hey Tyler, I need you to take a deep breath. Can you do that for me?” Tyler sucked in a breath but shook her head. "Can I touch you?” This time Tyler nodded. “Great.” Dean gently touched her elbow at first before grasping it more firmly. “We’re going down.” And then Dean was slowly leading Tyler to sit on the floor. “Ok, now can you answer one more question for me? Do you want us in the room?” Tyler seemed to still at the question and Dean barely caught her glance at her mother. His eyes fluttered up to Susan’s and he offered her a small smile before he focused back on Tyler. “What about Sam a-” Tyler shook her head. Dean looked back at Sam and nodded in Susan’s direction, earning a nod, and soon the other two were out of the room. “Do you want me to go too?”

“How are you handling this fine?!” She blurted out, quite out of breath.

“This isn’t the first panic attack I’ve handled. Do you want me to help more or just sit with you?” Dean shrugged as he sat down across from her.

“Just sit. Do you?” She asked, already starting to relax though she was still very jittery. Dean rolled his eyes.

“Nah, my issues happen when I sleep. But our job isn’t easy, for both the hunters and the civilians involved so I'm used to this.” Dean deflected.

“Clarissa usually helps me.” Tyler managed to choke out before she fell silent again and finally focused on her breathing. Dean kept an eye on her as she quickly brought herself back down to a functioning level, even if the panic attack hadn’t completely subsided yet. “Don’t bring the others in yet.” She hummed and closed her eyes as she took in one last grounding breath. “I want to let Ryan wake up.”

“But?”

“But I also don’t? He’ll only cause trouble for us. If I knew he wouldn’t out us then yeah, I’d do it. But I don’t have that guarantee and I’m terrified.”

Dean blew out a heavy breath as he nodded. “Yeah I get that.” Tyler gave him an appraising once over and tilted her head.

“Do you?” She asked gently - just two words - and Dean clenched his fist.

“Maybe not the whole gay aspect.” Dean conceded. “But I hid a lot from my dad - had to. Hiding for your life isn’t fun.” Tyler hummed. “Look, we’re not gonna kill the guy, but we’ll help you with him. I don’t see why you don’t just, like, erase his memory or something.”

Tyler snorted at the question and sat up a little straighter. “Witchcraft got me into this. And besides, I don’t know  _ how _ to do that even if I wanted to. Witchcraft is a skill, and even though I do have some natural talent, I haven’t even thought about learning how to alter memory, let alone mastered how to erase someone’s memory.”

Dean held up his hands. “Hey, I’ve never learned, I don’t know how this works. But hey, Sam and I will intimidate the crap out of that douche and you and your girlfriend can rest easy, yeah. We’ll stay here for a week, and in the meantime you gotta go stealth with the magic, capiche? No more flower fields, no more making people sleep - just small stuff that hunters won’t notice.”

Tyler nodded and let out a sigh of relief. “Oh, and how do you know you got natural talent, huh?” Dean asked as he stood up.

“I got in touch with an older witch a while ago. She flew me out to her house for a week during a school break and taught me a  _ lot _ about witchcraft. She’s a bit violent but she’d rather outsmart her opponent that punch ‘em. She taught me how to do the flowers.” Tyler said with a budding grin. “You can bring them in now.” She said just as Dean was about to lean on the wall.

Dean nodded, and as he opened the door and motioned for Sam and Susan to come back out he said, “About your girlfriend - how much does she know?”

“I’m not totally sure. When we started dating, she thought I was into, like, your everyday pagan witchcraft - so not the stuff you deal with - but after Ryan was admitted to the hospital I warned her that some outsiders might come looking for me… And I told her to cooperate with them. She got a little weird after that but now everything’s back to normal.”

“You should talk to her about this. All of this.”

Tyler ducked her head. “I will.”

Dean pinned her with a stern gaze. “Before we leave, yeah?”

“Yes Dean.”

“Good.”

~**~

Clarissa held out her hand to Sam and Dean with a tight smile. “Nice to officially meet you and I’m glad you decided  _ not _ to kill my girlfriend.” Tyler lightly hit Clarissa’s shoulder with a smile as Sam shook her hand.

“Hard to kill someone innocent.” Clarissa narrowed her eyes and Tyler tried, and failed, to stop the incoming retort.

“It  _ should _ be hard to kill anyone.”

Dean gave her a sarcastic smile. “Not in our job sweetheart. Now be a good girlfriend and go on a sickeningly sweet date with Tyler and have her home by ten.”

Clarissa laughed. “What are you? Her father?” At that, Tyler scrunched up her nose but laughed nonetheless.

“Nah, I just got off the phone with her mom.” He then turned to Tyler. “No magic tricks, alright? We already took care of the hunter who tipped us off, but if another comes nosing about, you call us, ok?” Tyler nodded. “And you guys finished moving the flowers to the  _ back _ yard so people can’t just  _ see _ them, right?” The two girls nodded and Tyler gently grabbed Clarissa’s hand. “Am I missing anything?”

Sam rolled his eyes. “You want her to call you after the date so you know she got home safe?” Clarissa and Tyler laughed again.

“I- Sam, shut your mouth. Get in the car.” Dean grumbled as he marched back over to his impala. And right before he got in, he looked back at the girls over the hood of the car and said, “We better not see you two again - stay safe!”

Sam closed his door and gave the girls a wave before Dean pulled away. “I never thought I’d see you become so parental.” He mused with a smirk.

“The hell do you mean?” Dean asked with fake calmness and Sam rolled his eyes.

“I mean that you took one look at Tyler having a panic attack over Ryan and practically adopted her. I’m pretty sure that guy’s gonna have nightmares over how you threatened him.”

“ _ Sammy. _ ”

“I just didn’t think you’d go all Mama Bear over  _ teens _ .” Sam said and Dean slammed on the gas pedal. “And I didn't think you’d get so worked up over a single, unconscious, homophobic asshole,” Sam continued, oblivious to Dean’s reactions. “I mean, it was satisfying to watch even if I’m still not sure why I was there too.”

“Damn it Sammy, I said shut your mouth!” Dean growled and took his foot off the gas. “I  _ will _ dump your ass on the side of the road,” he threatened. Sam merely grinned and turned to stare out the window.


End file.
